Saturday, 3 September 2016

Something using buttons - 50 makes for Christmas 14/50

Welcome to September the first of the "ber" months and it is certainly feeling brrr here today and doing Christmas makes is feeling more in keeping with the change in the weather.

When I was brainstorming ideas for the 50 makes of Christmas one of the the things I jotted down was make something with buttons. I have plenty of them! not quite to the point where people point in the street and whisper about me behind my back more to the point where they really ought to be organised and I really ought to pass some on to new homes.

This little pile came from a charity shop in Norfolk when I was on holiday last year, I have already dipped into them a couple of times and even after making the two little wreaths it doesn't seem to have made an indentation on them. I do enjoy the ethics of buying in a charity shop, you give directly to the charity so it benefits, the stuff doesn't go to landfill (at this point), you get what you want for less money than buying new and nothing new was made so no new resources had to be used.

I threaded them onto some quite robust florist wire, I tried to keep the buttons close together but sometimes the wire decided where it wanted to bend and that was that, one of the joys of making your own is that it's imperfections are part of its beauty.

I threaded about 18 to 20 buttons then joined the two ends together and fashioned a loop for hanging. I pushed the finished wreath over a glass to get the circle shape. I tried to put it round one of my star shaped cutters but some of the buttons were positioned where it needed to bend and it just looked a bit malformed so I abandoned that idea.

I think their neutral colours will act as a foil against some of the more strongly coloured decorations that I have but they look a little bit lost on the olive tree on this grey day.

That is make number 14 completed out of my 50 makes for Christmas.

What is the weather like where you are, is it grey wet and cold or are you still basking in some late summer sun?